AEA RC T Registr y

The American Economic Association's registry for randomized controlled trials

In the annual door-to-door fund-raising drive of a large charitable organization, solicited households who indicate that they wish to donate by mobile phone at a later date are randomly assigned to one of six treatments. The treatments differ in two dimensions: a. whether respondents are asked to state the amount they intend to give and the intensity of this pledge. b. the presence or absence of a deadline to complete the transfer.

2016-11-06

2016-11-07

a. Donations by respondents who have indicated to donate at a later point using their mobile phone;
b. Pledged amounts by respondents who have indicated to donate at a later point using their mobile phone.

Participating solicitors will be randomly assigned to six groups:
I. NPinf: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date do not have to make a pledge. These respondents do not face a deadline to complete the transfer;
II. NP7: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date do not have to make a pledge. These respondents face a seven-day deadline to complete the transfer;
III. SPinf: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date are asked to make a soft pledge concerning the intended amount. These respondents do not face a deadline to complete the transfer;
IV. SP7: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date are asked to make a soft pledge concerning the intended amount. These respondents do face a deadline to complete the transfer;
V. FPinf: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date are asked to make a firm pledge concerning the intended amount. These respondents face no deadline to complete the transfer;
VI. FP7: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date are asked to make a firm pledge concerning the intended amount. Respondents face a deadline to complete the transfer.

Participating solicitors will be randomly assigned to six groups: I. NPinf: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date do not have to state the intended amount. These respondents do not face a deadline to complete the transfer; II. NP7: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date do not have to state the intended amount. These respondents face a seven-day deadline to complete the transfer; III. SPinf: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date are asked to state the intended amount. These respondents do not face a deadline to complete the transfer; IV. SP7: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date are asked to state the intended amount. These respondents do face a seven-day deadline to complete the transfer; V. FPinf: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date are asked to state the intended amount. The solicitor writes this amount on a flyer, adds his/her signature and gives the flyer to the respondent. These respondents face no deadline to complete the transfer; VI. FP7: Respondents who indicate a preference to making a donation by mobile phone at a later date are asked to state the intended amount. The solicitor writes this amount on a flyer, adds his/her signature and gives the flyer to the respondent. These respondents face a seven-day deadline to complete the transfer.

One of the PIs took 6 instruction packages (one of each treatment) and randomly put them in one of six bags that also contained the other materials solicitors needed. These six bags were randomly ordered in a bunch that was tied together with a piece of rope. At the intervention date, the helpers picked one of these bunches and assigned a bag to a solicitor arriving (taking out the instructions and reading them out aloud to the solicitor). Each time the helper had finished a bunch, he or she fetched a new bunch of six bags.

Level of randomization is the solicitor level

Yes

300 solicitors

Planned number of total observations in terms of households approached: 30,000 (100 per solicitor)

50 solicitors in NP7: no pledge, 7 day deadline;
50 solicitors in NPinf: no pledge, no deadline;
50 solicitors in SP7: soft pledge, 7 day deadline;
50 solicitors in SPinf: soft pledge, no deadline;
50 solicitors in FP7: firm pledge, 7 day deadline;
50 solicitors in FPinf: firm pledge, no deadline;

Pre-analysis plan: Does pledging increase charitable giving? A door-to-door mobile phone fund-raising field experiment

Statistical analysis on the blinded data